Endoscopy is a medical field in which internal features of a body are viewed without the use of traditional, fully-invasive techniques. In medicine, endoscopy is now widely used to perform minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as arthroscopy and laparoscopy. A basic endoscopy tool is the endoscopic camera system, which includes a scope that is inserted into the body of a patient and a camera coupled to the scope. Images acquired by the camera are typically displayed on a conventional video monitor.
The camera requires light when endoscopic procedures are performed. The light is typically is supplied through a fiber-optic light cable which is connected with a light source unit. The light cable may need to be inserted or changed during surgery for various reasons. To provide light to the light cable, one end of the cable is plugged into the light source unit by an operating room (OR) staff member. When inserting a light cable into a light source unit, the staff member's hands that touch the light source will no longer be sterile. It is therefore desirable to reduce the amount of contact necessary by a person with a light source to insert a light cable. Specifically, one handed operation is desirable.
Further, light cables made by different manufactures tend to come in a wide variety of diameters and sizes. An OR may require a light source unit to be compatible with different sized cables. It is therefore desirable to have a light source unit that can accept a wide variety of sizes of light cables.
A previous implementation of a universal light source unit interface for accepting light cables included a jaw assembly and a handle. The jaw assembly was opened using the handle. When an OR staff member wanted to insert a light cable into a light source unit, the staff member rotated the handle to open the assembly. The light cable was then inserted into the aperture created by the opened jaw assembly. This implementation allow for universal acceptance of light cables, however it required two-handed operation to insert and remove the light cables.
Another prior implementation allows for single-handed insertion of light cables into a light source unit. This implementation included one or more ports mounted on a turret that can accept a light cable. Each of the ports had a specific diameter, and each of the ports was designed to accept a specific size light cable. An OR staff member had to first index the turret to the appropriate port then manually insert a light cable. This implementation allowed for single-handed insertion, however it required the staff member to touch the light source for port selection, thereby breaking the sterile field, and the implementation also limits the sizes of light cables that can be used. Further, if there are several ports on the face of a light source unit, an OR staff member may not be able to quickly locate the appropriate port.